Golden Axe II

aka: GA2
Moby ID: 6766
Genesis Specs
Buy on Genesis
$40.00 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam
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Description official descriptions

Not long after the malign reign of the Death Adder has ended, another evil rises. The peace of the land has again been threatened, this time by 'Dark Guld', who was supposed to be imprisoned but apparently isn't. He has instead now got his hands on the Golden Axe, and is using it for his own nasty purposes, and with his minions is causing much chaos.

So once more, Ax-Battler, the fierce barbarian; Tyris-Flare, the fearless Amazon; Gilius Thunderhead, the ferocious dwarf; get up to deal with the oppression, with their might and magic, and recover the Golden Axe.

The hack and slash gameplay, in a medieval fantasy setting, is essentially the same to that of the previous game. Beat up opponents with melee attacks and collect scrolls to launch magical attacks. Moreover, players can also ride dragons and other beasts and use their attack capabilities to their advantage.

Spellings

  • ゴールデンアックスⅡ - Japanese spelling
  • 战斧2 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Genesis version)

21 People (19 developers, 2 thanks)

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  • SEGA

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 27 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 59 ratings with 5 reviews)

Took me Five minutes to complete...

The Good
I love Streets of Rage style fighting and I love D&D, this game mixes them. It was good that both the male and female characters were skimpily dressed. Usually, it's just the woman, and seeing as I am a straight female, this can get boring.

The Bad
It was TOO easy, it took me and a friend (on two-player mode) 5 mins to complete. Compare this to Streets of Rage 2 - which we had played minutes earlier. SOR2 was set over about 8 levels, GAII was set over 5, and they were much shorter.

The Bottom Line
The original game is better.

Genesis · by emmamomocat (29) · 2003

One of the best sequels I have ever played. Also, it's great as a stand-alone game, and I think it is the best of this type of game that I have ever played.

The Good
I was a true sequel in the real sense. I mean, it's my understanding that a sequel should be better than the prequel, right? (because after the prequel they find out what people think about it, what they thought it lacked--having a prequel just gives them a better idea of what to do for a sequel.) Anyway, everything took a step up from Golden Axe 1. These elements included: Graphics, music, sound, moves, magic, although, control seemed the same. (of course, that was refined already.) And, as all games should be, it's fun. VERY fun.

The Bad
Well, I always get kind of angry when a sequel features the same old villain. Although, many of my favorite games (Megaman, Zelda, Mario Bros.) do that sort of thing which is okay, but it does get kind of old. I think that it could've been a lot cooler if enemies could do more moves and stuff, and had more interactive and "smart" (maybe I'm abusing that word here) Artificial Intelligence.

The Bottom Line
One of the greatest of its kind. One of the few games that really makes having a Sega Genesis worthwhile.

Genesis · by J. David Taylor (27) · 2003

More of the same but with less impressive graphics

The Good
Just like the first game in the series, Golden Axe II is a side-scrolling beat 'em-up in a fantasy setting. The game is very similar to its predecessor. The new magic system is basically the only new gameplay element. Of course there are some new enemies & backgrounds etc. but those can't meet the standards set by the first game. Like Majestic Lizard says in his review: Golden Axe II feels more like an expansion pack with an extra quest than as a real sequel. You still move from left to right through six levels, beating up lots of enemies. Each level ends with a traditional boss-fight. The gameplay is pretty simple & straightforward, but the game does offer a solid hour of mindless bashing and sometimes that's just what I need. The game is easy to get into and the controls are simple and work well. None of the moves is hard to execute.

The three playable characters from the first game make a return and now have the ability to pick up opponents and throw them on other enemies and have a new special move. You can't pick-up any new weapons in this game, but you can knock enemies of dragons and ride their beast which is basically the same but looks a lot cooler. The three characters differ with respect to the strength of their melee attack, their movement speed and the amount of magic books they can carry. The animations of your character look decent.

The new magic system mentioned above is definitely an improvement over the old one. While you fight your way through the levels you'll encounter small wizards who will drop a magic book when you defeat them. These wizards also appear after most of the levels. After collecting a magic book you can launch a special attack, the more magic books you've collected the stronger your potential attack is. The three characters can store different amounts of magic. In Golden Axe you could only use all your magic at once, in Golden Axe II you can decide how much of your magic you want to use so you can save a bit for another opponent. There's a different animation for every magic level and some of them look pretty good.

  • The music is appropriately heroic and fits the fantasy setting. Some of the tunes are new but I think I've heard several of them before. Compared to the music the sound-effects are disappointing; a bunch of weak-sounding sword swishes and cookie-cutter death screams.
  • The annoying jumps over pits and chasms have been left out this game.
  • Just like the first game (and just about every other game in the genre) Golden Axe II has a cooperative mode which makes bashing through the enemy ranks a lot more fun. The player vs. player duel mode also returns but since the combat system is rather simple (compared to real one-on-one brawlers like Street Fighter) this mode isn't that interesting. If you play the duel mode against the CPU you'll have to fight a series of battles similar to those in the story mode.



The Bad

  • One of Golden Axe's strongest features were the great graphics that were nearly as good as those of the original coin-op version. Golden Axe II was developed solely for the Megadrive/Genesis and its graphics are not nearly as impressive. The overall appearance of the game isn't very vibrant, the colors that have been used look a bit washed out. With the exception of the lava cave level & Dark Guld's lair, backgrounds are static and pretty boring.
  • The design of the enemies is also rather uninspired. Some of the enemies (the skeleton & the soldier with the club) come straight out of the original and you'll face the same enemies over and over again, except with a different color palette but that was a common practice when Golden Axe II was released. However the game does the same with the bosses and I think that's a bit lazy and the pink "blood skeleton" looks silly. The enemies don't move very fluid, they seem to lack a few frames of animation.
  • The enemy A.I. is rather stupid, there are a few parts of the game where you can make them walk straight into an abyss just by positioning yourself correctly. None of the enemies is really hard to beat on it's own but since they mostly come in groups they will be able to land (more than) a couple of blows. The A.I. basically has only two tactics: surrounding you with enemies that attack from multiple directions and dashing towards you whenever one of these enemies is aligned properly with your character. As a result of these A.I. tactics, the key to doing well in Golden Axe II is to advance slowly as to not trigger the appearance of too many enemies at once and to keep moving to both avoid becoming surrounded and avoid incoming dashing opponents.
  • Compared to some other titles in genre Golden Axe II's combat-system isn't very deep. The number of available moves is a bit limited; for instance you can't throw items, none of the characters has a long-range attack and there's only one way to grab & throw opponents.
  • Golden Axe II's gameplay is perhaps a bit too one-dimensional. There's very little variation between the levels (there are for instance no environmental hazards) and all the different types of enemies have been introduced by the time you reach the end of stage 3.
  • It's a relatively short game, only six levels and an end-boss level. Once you know what enemies appear when and learn to dose your magic, it will take you about 45 minutes to complete the game (on the normal difficulty level, not the shortened easy mode). With 3 continues at your disposal, anybody who has ever played such a game before should be able to advance past the 60 % mark on his/her first try.
  • Not one of the enemies has a life bar, not even the bosses.



The Bottom Line
Golden Axe II is too similar to its predecessor. It adds very little to the series and lacks the graphical splendor of the original. It's not really a bad game and it works if you just desire a quick dose of action, but in the end it is rather average and uninspiring.

Genesis · by Roedie (5239) · 2008

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Content

Although a sequel to Golden Axe, this game bears no resemblance whatsoever to Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, the official sequel to the arcade game.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Syed GJ.

Arcade added by 666gonzo666. Windows, iPhone added by Sciere. Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, paul cairey, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Neville, Patrick Bregger.

Game added June 25, 2002. Last modified February 15, 2024.